A few years later, when Indy is eighteen (played by Sean Patrick Flanery), he and Lawrence (now played by Douglas Henshall, of Psychos, Orphans and This Year's Love) meet once more. This time it's Palestine in 1917. Indy joined the Belgian Army in a previous episode and is seconded to British Intelligence, apparently at Lawrence's request. There he is introduced to Meinertzhagen (Julian Firth, known to most as Brother Jerome in ITV's Brother Cadfael series), who takes Indy as an escort when he stage-manages the Beersheba Ruse. This involved the loss of Allenby's dispatches, stating that the main attack would be at Gaza. The Turks duly concentrated their forces there, and the Australian Light Horse broke through the reserve Turkish lines at Beersheba. This episode mainly concentrates on the fate of the Anzac troops (played, unsurprisingly, by a cast garnered from Australia's finest soaps!) who had been sidelined after Gallipoli, showing the indifference of British commanding officers intent on winning glory, and as such is turned into a creditable piece of film. The final charge by the Australian Light Horse is finely executed, and well worth watching. The tension is added to when Indy's mission is revealed to him: to journey to Beersheba as a merchant to join another agent, and to ensure that the wells are kept intact for the ALC. The inter-cutting between Indy trying to save the wells and the Australians charging full tilt at Turkish guns is rather effective.
Lawrence's part in all this is somewhat peripheral, although he does have a substantial role. After cutting down Meinertzhagen's pompous speechifying to a few succinct words, he and Indy ride off into the desert and visit a Graeco-Roman ruin (impossible to identify). There they sit and discuss the transitory nature of life and glory, a subject raised by Indy as he worries about his Australian friends. Lawrence seems to be almost in loco parentis to young Indy, and scolds him for bickering with his father. As they make their way back to the camp, Indy tells Lawrence that he's becoming quite famous, and uses the sobriquet 'Lawrence of Arabia' for the first time. Lawrence gets rather het up about it. The last we see of him is before Indy sets off on his trip to Beersheba: Lawrence tries to disguise Indy to look as disgusting and disreputable as possible, something that causes both of them much hilarity. Indy's companion and fellow spy on the journey is Maia, a beautiful belly-dancer (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Lawrence seems rather bemused by her.
Lawrence's screen character seems to have been forged in the heat of Peter O'Toole's performance. Henshall's Lawrence displays the clipped English speech of his predecessor, and Lucas seems to have imported Maurice Jarre for the score overplaying the desert evening sequence. Sadly the costume budget for Chronicles lacked the dimensions of Lean's film wardrobe, so Lawrence is reduced to wearing any old thing. As in The Curse of the Jackal, he wears an odd-looking combination of military boots, jodhpurs, thob (tucked in!) and a thin aba, plus a rather cheap-looking kuffiyeh and agal. Call the Fashion Police!
Chapter 17: The Winds of Change
Indy goes to the Paris Peace Conference as a translator to the American delegation and meets up with Lawrence once again. At dinner, Indy is introduced to Getrude Bell (played by Anna Massey) and Arnold Toynbee (Michael Maloney), who attacks President Wilson's concept of a League of Nations and fears that if Germany is made a scapegoat, then she will only rise again in defiance. Lawrence tells Indy of his dreams for Arabia, and a few days later, Indy is party to a discussion between Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd George over the fate of the Middle East. Wilson is unhappy with the Sykes-Picot agreement and proposes that a referendum on Arabia should be held. Indy reports this to Lawrence, who is cheered by the news then decides to try and force the issue. Indy disagrees with him and they argue. Lawrence walks out in a temper, and as Indy goes to follow him, a Vietnamese waiter approaches to ask for his help. Indy ignores him and chases after Lawrence, who has calmed down and apologises for his cynicism.
A few days later, Lawrence and Feisal address the conference and ask for Arabia's freedom. Indy is again approached by the Vietnamese waiter (actually Ho Chi Min!), who appeals to him for help in getting his country's voice heard. Indy manages to wangle them a meeting with the diplomats, but is disgusted with the blasé attitude adopted towards the 'minor' countries seeking help. Lawrence arrives and tells him that the German delegation has been held up by angry mobs, and they discuss the reasons why the war ever began. Later, Toynbee reports on the reaction of the Germans to the peace treaty, and Indy chats with one of the German delegation. As the conference ends, Indy is disappointed to find the requests of the Vietnamese people stamped 'No Action', and is further saddened when he learns that Clemenceau and Lloyd George have overturned Wilson's plan of an Arabian referendum in favour of 'zones of influence' between Britain and France.
President Wilson returns home, full of doubt at the situation. Indy decides that politics is not for him, and so turns down a job in the State Department in favour of an archaeology degree at the University of Chicago. Lawrence promises to stay in touch, and leaves Indy with the words: "We gave the old men victory, and they threw it away. We offered them a new world, and they made the old one over again. Still, it might have been worse..."